Brave the caves in Dun­huang

If you’re tired of air-con­di­tioned art gal­leries, travel to Dun­huang in north­west China for an up-close art his­tory les­son amidst its rocky grot­toes. Lo­cated in Gansu Prov­ince on the wind­ing Silk Road, the Mo­gao Caves are steeped in 17 cen­turies of his­tory, nick­named the “Thou­sand Bud­dha Caves” for the rows of tiny sten­cil-repli­cated Bud­dha fig­ures cov­er­ing the in­side of the caves.

Check out the In­dian-in­flu­enced rock-cut ar­chi­tec­ture, all hewn out of solid rock, and snap a selfie with the mu­rals which de­pict fly­ing ap­sara spir­its and in­tri­cately painted Bod­hisattvas. His­tory fa­nat­ics can ven­ture into the Li­brary Cave, a trea­sure trove filled with up to 50,000 manuscripts. The caves are nor­mally re­stricted, so you’ll have to join a tour group (around $255 per per­son) to get in.